9th. Left Sienna long before it was light in the morning; being in some anxiety about passing the Ricorsi, a mountain-torrent, which, at this season, is very liable to be swollen by the rains, and has sometimes detained travellers on the road for many days. The Guide Book informs you, quaintly enough, that you will have to pass it four times-if you are not swallowed up in either of the first three. Having safely forded this stream, we arrived, at the close of evening, at Acquapendente. The accommodations here were so uninviting, that we proceeded on to S. Lorenzo; and as it was now quite dark, my companion would insist upon taking a small escort of cavalry. This I thought unwise;-it was making sure of being pillaged by the soldiers; whereas the danger from robbers was only contingent.

At S. Lorenzo we found that we had fallen from the frying-pan into the fire. The inn had a most unfrequented appearance, and our arrival was the signal of destruction to some poor fowls, who were quietly at roost-dreaming of that tomorrow which was never to come.

10th. We rose early again, and breakfasted at Bolsena, on the borders of the lake. The inhabitants bear ample testimony, by their pale and sickly appearance, to the existence of the mal

aria. Throughout this day, the road was beautiful;-commanding every variety of prospect ;hill and dale, wood and water.

The environs of Viterbo, bold and beautiful.— Halted for the night at Baccano ;-the inn of which has been undeservedly denounced by Forsyth. Whatever may be said of the roast beef of old England, I think we might learn much from our neighbours in the science of good living. The inns in Italy are generally better than those of an equal class in England. What can a traveller hope to find at a country-inn in England but the choice of a beef-steak, a mutton-chop, or a veal-cutlet? For one of these, with some bad beer, or worse wine, he will be charged more than he will pay in Italy for an abundance and variety of dishes. The wines of the country are light, pleasant, and wholesome; and in that great article of a traveller's comfort-his bed-Italy has again the advantage. Instead of the suffocating featherbeds of England, you find every where an elastic refreshing mattress, which will conduce to ensure a good night's sleep, in spite of the dreary unfurnished room in which it is placed.

11th. We rose early in order to reach Rome in good time. It was a rainy day; so that when we ascended the hill about two miles from Bac

cano, from which we ought to have seen Romewe saw nothing. The approach to Rome is as all travellers have described it. You pass over miles of a barren common, much like Hounslow Heath; and when, at last, you arrive at the gate of the Eternal City, the first impression is, I think, a feeling of disappointment. But this, perhaps, may be referred to the exaggerated expectations, in which, till philosophy and experience have given sobriety to our views, we are all too prone to indulge. We have only to consider the limited powers of man, and to examine what he has been able to do, with a reference to his means of performance, and the tone of our expectations will be lowered to a just level. We were soon in the Piazza di Spagna--the focus of fashion, and the general resort of the English. Some travellers have compared it to Grosvenor-square; but the Piazza di Spagna is little more than an irregular open space, a little less nasty than the other piazzas in Rome, because the habits of the people are in some measure restrained by the presence of the English. Still, there is quite enough left to make me believe the Romans the nastiest people in Christendom-if I had not seen the Portuguese.

The English swarm every where. We found all the inns full. It seemed like a country town in

England at an assizes. To look for lodgings was impossible, for it rained unmercifully. By the way, when it does rain here, it pours with a downright vehemence, that we are but little accustomed to in England. We got a resting-place for the night with some difficulty, at the Hotel de Paris. Dear and bad.

12th. Signed the articles of a triumvirate with two friends, who were on the same pursuit after lodgings with myself. Established ourselves at No. 43, Via degli Otto Cantoni, Corso. This situation is bad. There are two fish-stalls under my window, the people belonging to which commence their vociferations as soon as it is light. There is, however, at least, more variety in these cries than in the perpetual " All alive ho!" of London. The Italian fishmonger displays all the humour he is master of to get rid of his stock, and he will sometimes apostrophize his stale mullet with ludicrous effrontery ;--" Pesci! cosa fate? Pesci! statevi cheti!" But the worst objection to our lodgings is their height. We are on the quarto piano;—a hundred and four steps from the ground—though this objection relates only to convenience; for it is by no means mauvais ton in Rome, to live in the upper story, which does not at all answer to our garret. Here-your ap

proach to heaven does not in the least detract from your gentility.

Our lodgings consist of two sitting-rooms, three bed-rooms, servant's room, and kitchen; for which we pay thirty sequins, about fifteen pounds English, per month. The charge of a traiteur for supplying you with dinner at home, varies from six to ten pauls per head. We get Orvietto wine at something less than two pauls a bottle. This wine is pleasant, though it is said to be very unwholesome. But the wine of wines is Velletri, which costs us little more than a paul a bottle; and a bottle holds nearly two English quarts. The paul is something less than sixpence, fortyfour being the value of a pound sterling, when the exchange is at par.

December 13th to 25th. Sight-seeing. Of the sights at Rome it is impossible to say nothingand it is difficult to say any thing new. What so many have told, who would tell again?-I must be content to record first impressions.

There are two modes of seeing Rome-the topographical-followed by Vasi, who parcels out the town into eight divisions, and jumbles every thing together-antiquities, churches, and palaces —if their situation be contiguous;—and the chronological-which would carry you regularly from